Joey Gottlieb

This week, I taught on the word "ahimsa."

Rather than the normal format, this week I will share a little story.

Vinyasa (pronounced vin-yah-sah)may be one of the better known words in yoga. We see it used to describe what is currently, arguably, the most popular form of modern yoga: flow. 

Hatha (pronounced huh-tuh) has multiple meanings. In the modern context, the word is generally used to describe classes that are alignment-based and non-flowing. Even more generally, the word hatha describes any kind of yoga practice that emphasizes yoga asana, or postures.

Spanda is one of my favorite words in yoga. Spanda means pulsation, the dance between expansion and contraction.

Lila is the universal model of chance, the inverse of karma. Translated as divine play, lila tells us that anything can happen at any time for apparently no reason. It is the quantum side of life.

Karma is one of the yoga words that many of us are familiar with. The popular understanding of karma is the adage, "what goes around, comes around." In other words, every action has a consequence, and if it's a bad action, you'll get your comeuppance.

Dharma is a unique concept among the spiritual traditions of the world. Often translated as "duty" or "law," dharma is the idea that the universe is inherently self-organizing and that there is, in some sense, a right way of doing things.

Prana is, to many a Western yoga practitioner, a remote concept. Prana is the energy, the force that animates all of life. Prana, some say, is that which connects us to the changeless Self.

Asana (pronounced AH-SUN-UH) is the word for a pose. We combine this word with many others to describe the diversity of shapes that we can create on the mat.

“Yoga is always an invitation, never an obligation.”  -Douglas Brooks.

The word yoga comes from the verbal root “yuj,” literally meaning to yoke, and is often translated as “union.”